Jass Today on Radio Tree

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

JRR comp Alyn...5pm. (50 mins only)

"Popping up again at SBC tomorrow
and the music will include (in
order ) Woody Herman , Herbie
Mann, Bill Doggett ( can 't imagine
who asked for that) *, the Ray - O -
Vacs, Pete Brown and Benny Carter,
Billy Banks , Dick Twardzik , James
Booker, Christine Tobin and Ken
Colyer."

NO Jazz Line Up as far as I can see as Radio Tree is "Operating" avec Strauss.


Geoff Smith however is midnight grooving avec the brilliant Hampton Hawes....born with five fingers...no wonder he sounded so daaaaamnnn gooood. Ravel only had two stumps.



BN.

* A Bluesnik first buy in 1960...cleared the teen parties of the Bobby Vee fans...

[Serial_Apologist]

Ravel only had two stumps.

Possibly a true word spoken in jest:

"Murray Schafer: You met Ravel didn't you?

John Ireland: I was once at a party with Ravel. I don't remember what we ate but I do recall having eaten exceptionally well. Afterwards Ravel went to the piano and played his Sonatine. I don't think I ever heard it played worse than on that occasion. There is something to be learned from that. Food, alchohol and music don't mix".

The interview goes on as follows, by the way:

"Shafer: There is also an amusing story told about an encounter you had with George Gershwin.

Ireland: I met Gershwin many years ago on one of his visits to this country. Almost as soon as we met he said, 'I hear you've written a rrrhapsody. How many performances does it get a year?' 'Two or three', I replied. 'I wrote a rrrhapsody that gets about ten performances a day!'"

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

I'm a big fan of Ravel and his piano music although I can see why Stravinsky called him "The Swiss Watchmaker"...the things you learn on Radio Tree.

BN.

[eighthobstruction]

You are making it too easy for us....Radio Tree....Woody Herman...Guthrie....

Opera from the Met ....Wood from the Trees....Blind Willie Watchmaker....you've opened a can of terms....

....Artesmisia Absinthium, that great Ethiopian jes drummer....

....jeez boggles....

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Jimmy Forest...."Willow weep for me"

On Trunk Records.

BN.

[Serial_Apologist]

I'll get sycamore trad

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

[Quarky]

Art for All - Tony Hall's words. I wonder if R3 is pondering at all on this?

We are certainly getting high opera in abundance: but whether it is intended for "all" I somehow doubt.

But we are certainly not getting Jazz for all - in fact little Jazz at all.

May be it's not too early to file a complaint with Bob Shennan ?

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Geoff Smith's Hampton Hawes hour very nice to end the day with but with a track listing close to Alyn's "Library" as I remember.

Great player with a unique touch.

BN.

[cloughie]

I'll get SYCAMORE TRAD

That would make a great album title!

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Geoff Smith's Hampton Hawes hour very nice to end the day with but with a track listing close to Alyn's "Library" as I remember.

Great player with a unique touch.

BN.

Listened back again to GS's Hamp Hawes....really great and did exclude the Fender piano stuff of the 70s...effective tho some of that was. But just some. Wrecked the touch.

Much Recommended. Sun's out Hamp's On. Make mine a large Marxist Merlot....decanting to Normandy...

BN.


Btw...GS says the track listings "are on the web site"...so maybe he doesn't know that no longer is the case!?

[Ian Thumwood]

I'm a big fan of Ravel and his piano music although I can see why Stravinsky called him "The Swiss Watchmaker"...the things you learn on Radio Tree.

BN.

Curious to read these quotes about Ravel as it is the clinical precision and coldness of Stravinsky's music that puts me off. He is too modern to be a Classical or Romantic composer but not quite modern enough in other respects. I suppose he is a bit like Hindemith whose work is also lacking in emotional qualities for me. There is a dryness about both composers.

I felt that the Bill Doggett track didn't sound like R n' B to be and sounded like it was jazz and nothing else. It's strange how our perspectives of jazz can change over time as this track didn't seem overly commercial and it was easy to make a connection to the likes of Baby Face Willette and Bog John Patton who came afterwards. There is a massive blurring of the boundaries between jazz and Black , popular music which was probably at it's strongest between the 1920's and late 50's but I feel continues to this day. odd to see how many so-called "pop groups" from an earlier generation now seem to fit quite comfortably within the confines of jazz festivals so that groups like "Chic" and "Earth, Wind and Fire" don't seem too far apart. This is probably because jazz has long-since taken on board pop influences but also because of the musical nature of these bands whereby the line-ups are usually full of musicians who encompass jazz in to their repertoire. Struck last year by the about of improvisation allowed for within "Chic" when I heard them perform at Vienne.

About five years ago there was a lot of criticism about Michael Jackson which centred upon his personal life yet it is quite fascinating how his tunes are gradually creeping in to the jazz repertoire. Nowadays, no one bats an eye-lid regarding Stevie Wonder's work which gets frequently performed by people like Gretchen Parlato and Kurt Elling. Even Wonder's own performances in London a few years back opened up with "So what." It's fascinating to see how the jazz and popular strands of music blend in to each other especially when you have someone like Herbie Hancock who is adept at doing this whilst using a harmonic language that borrows a lot from Debussy and Ravel. It's easy to be sniffy about records such as Bluensik's request yet the failure to recognise the importance of popular influences in jazz becomes increasingly arbitrary as jazz absorbs the better elements of pop and forges it into the jazz mainstream.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

I was also pleased to hear that my JRR "Doggett" had an excellent coating of vintage surface noise which just how I remember it!

Organic.

BN.

As Ian notes it is interesting how that tenor/organ genre has endured pretty much intact...for 50 plus years? OK, Larry Young* etc stretched it but the same "functional" core remains. Satisfying in its simplicity and directness.

*I always liked Richard Cook's description of Larry Young and Elvin Jones..."like coke on ice cubes".

[Alyn_Shipton]

It was played in from the original 45 which mercifully survived in the Gram library!
Good memory of Bill - as I mentioned in another post he was v helpful on my Dizzy bio. He had a lot to do with teaching Dizzy how to arrange and how to read big band parts.